I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase that ‘diamonds are forever’ well in many ways this is very close to true.  Diamonds are often geologically very very old formed many thousands or millions of years in the past.

Giving a Christmas gift of a diamond is a symbolic gesture and should be taken into consideration along with the beauty of the stone, the cut and ring that holds it.

This Christmas seasons you might consider looking at  a Whiteflash diamond.  You can read more about these diamonds birthed in fire at Celebrities wearing Whiteflash Diamond Jewelry. The article discusses the origin as well as a number of people that are embracing this technology applied to diamonds forged deep in the Earth.

If you find the concept intriguing be sure to follow up by looking into Whiteflash.com one of the first sources of Whiteflash diamonds on the internet.

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China has just made a move to Check Western corporations in the high stakes chess game of 3G telecom.  Motorola, Lucent, Nortel and Ericsson all stand to lose out if China proceeds down the path of promoting 3G networks through home grown Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation. 

Both Huawei and ZTE have benefited from various types of partnerships with some of the same Western firms.  China looks at it like their fledgling companies are growing up.  However, many view this as a significant indication that the business culture in China is dodgy enough to take the knowledge and Western Wisdom and employ it internally to the detriment of the firms, corporations and governments that have invested huge amounts of money in the potential of a Chinese economy, which has thus far only paid off with cheaper manufacturing but has not provided a larger contribution to the global economy of consumers.

Chinese Protectionism: Don’t kid yourself about a market that is not Free

Despite the fact that Huawei and ZTE’s home grow technology has not been proven and is not in fact ready for deployment, China appears to be stalling in its decision to license 3G technology to carriers.  This delaying tactic is proving to be further evidence that China is protecting its state sponsored corporations over private firms from abroad, despite the investment of money, knowledge, and time made by those same firms. 

Chinese Politicians Shooting their Own Economy in the Foot

China walks a dangerous tightrope with these tactics.  If they continue to thwart efforts to make the Chinese market a free market then foreign investment and partnerships will dry up rather quickly, which could stunt the Chinese economy significantly.  Many firms are deeply invested and committed to China, however history has proven many times that these same companies will pull anchor and move to a new cheaper harbor of labor and resources at either the first sign of trouble or at the first indication that a better deal is available elsewhere.

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Sony announced the recall of 8 different models of Digital Cameras from its Cyber-shot lineup last week during the Thanksgiving holiday, actually on Black Friday the day that many US consumers line up at the doors of retailers across the country to get spectacular discounts and promotions on goods for holiday presents.

This is the second major recall of Sony Digital cameras in just over a year and yet another major recall of Sony products in 2006.  Sony’s brand image has suffered greatly after the recall of close to 10 million laptop batteries after an initial Apple laptop recall of Sony batteries quickly spread as an internet video circulated showing a Dell computer burn up at a conference and then later as an IBM laptop caught fire and by some accounts blew up at LAX.

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Ebates is a unique online service that provides consumers with an interesting method of reaping additional rebates.  In the online world many websites receive part of their funding by referring visitors to a shopping site.  The visitor that is referred may purchase something from that site and upon the purchase if the retail site can identify the referring source through cookies, they may pay an affiliate commission to the website.

With this well established business process in mind, Ebates has established a system where they provide coupons to their members.  When those members shop, they login to the Ebates portal and they make their purchases through Ebates’ affiliate links.

Ebates then provides a portion of the commission that they receive on the sale to the consumer in the form of an after the fact payment like a Rebate.  Consumers can obtain sizable discounts in this manner from many well known and recognized retailers across the internet.  Membership in Ebates does require the establishment of an account and the installation of software which works to track you purchase through the Ebate system such that the commission can be verified and paid to you accurately.

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